At the Rise conference in Hong Kong, the leading industry icons were gauged in on the major implications of cryptocurrencies for – and beyond – the global economy. Ethereum Foundation’s co-founder Joseph Lubin, CEO of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital Mike Novgoratz, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, Tenx’s Julian Hosp, and Wall Street Journal columnist Jacky Wong were the participants in the panel.

Mike Novogratz reacted against the idea- whether crypto can replace fiat, stating that neither Bitcoin (BTC) nor Ethereum (ETH) are in a position to replace fiat. Also, he added that both of them constitute to “system change,” than a substitute for cash preferably.

Bitcoin is most likely to stay a “store of value,” or “digital gold,” he suggested, with Ethereum serving as a form of “crypto-fuel” for decentralized ecosystems.

Lubin backed and agreed with this distinct feature after considering that Ether will be “just one of many crypto-commodities in an information ecosystem”

“We’re moving into a qualitative shift in the nature of money…towards a world of ‘global villages’ where you can have decentralized governance, you can define goals for your ecosystem, mechanisms by which you achieve those goals, and raise money through your own cryptocurrency or value token within these networks.”

TenX’s Julian Hosp agreed and supported Lubin’s vision. His vision is to outpace the current system and serve all the features of the global economy.

Hosp presented the argument against Novogratz that by implication, cash will be considered as an asset like many other existing assets. Also, it won’t be necessarily regarded as the best possible medium of exchange in any one given environment.

Lubin further explained the panel the wider impression of “tokenized” systems . “radically different architecture for society”- something that he defined in his speech.

Whether defined as “global villages,” “protocol-based urban platforms,” or “networked business models,” the message from Lubin’s speech was that digital currencies will help to frame the society– whether or not they eventually come to replace cash as payment “for your Starbucks coffee.”